Chapter 148

On the calm Mediterranean Sea, the sharp bow of the warship cut the waves, and the white waves spread out to both sides and gradually disappeared on the water.

British southward blockade fleet flagship ship hood, bridge command post.

"Captain, how can such a huge fleet be sent directly from Germany, which has no heavy cruisers? Two battleships, with three cruisers, such a large scale... "The chief officer asked the captain with the telescope.

"You think this is to deal with the two broken fishing boats of the German Navy?" The captain put down his telescope and said with a smile: "we have three missions this time; First, blockade the sea surface of the Middle East and let Germany completely cut off the oil resources in the Middle East; Second, we should use force to deter the indigenous people in the Arab region and let them obediently hand over their share of German oil; Third, let the Italian Navy see what we are capable of, and don't get so close to Germany. "

In fact, both the British government and the navy are not at ease with the blockade. Because Germany also weaves a big net of interests here by various means: Turkey and Italy are tied to this big net of interests. So even though Germany did not have a warship in the Mediterranean, the British Navy still felt that the size of its fleet had to be huge.

Because the Italian government has not yet made clear its position to remain neutral, and the Italian Navy does have the fighting ability and idea to let the small Royal Navy be annihilated - the British fleet was watched by the Italian Navy as soon as it entered the Mediterranean Sea.

In 1934, the Italian Navy had two old-fashioned Earl of gaffer battleships: gaffer and Julio? Caesar; Old fashioned Cao? Two Durio Class Battleships: Cao? Durio and Andre? Doria.

Although the battleships seemed to be of average strength, Italy had outstanding strength on the cruisers: at that time, there were four Zara class heavy cruisers with the best protection and the greatest power in the world: "Zara", "fum", "Grazia" and "Bora". In addition, it has 2 Taranto class heavy cruisers and 2 borgano class heavy cruisers.

If 10 light cruisers and 60 submarines are included, this Italian fleet can give the Royal Navy's Mediterranean forces a headache if it pours out. Therefore, this time, the British Navy dispatched its local fleet to the south to ensure that Italy, which is getting closer to Germany, will be deterred.

After he explained, he immediately gave the order: "signal King George V, keep the speed and course, we will arrive at the German transport route in about an hour." I hope the British Foreign Office has given the British government's price to Mussolini, Italy's bullshit leader, so that the two countries' naval giants don't have to fight in the Mediterranean.

That's a big price. Britain agreed to give 10% of the oil share to Italy and Germany. Of course, for convenience, Saudi Arabia also took 20%, France took 20% as compensation, the United States took 10%, Turkey, as a local power in the region, also took 10%, and the British government took 30% as compensation. I hope Italy will accept this condition without hesitation.

After a while, King George V returned the signal: "two British destroyers are coming, they have been responsible for monitoring the German route near here."

"To tell you the truth, our army should go to Germany to have a good class! But our royal navy is different. It's time for the world to remember who is the overlord of the sea again! " The British admiral snorted and said, "here are all the five. 5-inch gun, ready! Tell the fleet to move at full speed! Any German must board the ship for inspection, and if there is resistance, fire is allowed! "

In British history, there are four warships named hood. Built in 1916, the Battlecruiser hood is one of the most powerful warships. The full load displacement of this warship exceeds 48000 tons. It is a real super war machine.

It has eight 15 inch main guns, which are respectively equipped on the front and rear four twin turrets. It can attack enemy targets 33 km away with artillery shells, and has 12 inch armor thickness, which is enough to resist the attack of most artillery. This Battlecruiser can be said to be the pinnacle of the world Battlecruiser design, and is absolutely the most powerful weapon that the British navy can hold at present.

After her completion of service in 1920, the hood was the largest and most expensive main ship in the Royal Navy, and her speed was the fastest among the main ships at that time“ "Hood" is regarded as the pride of the British Royal Navy and the symbol of the British Empire's maritime national strength. She gives people a deep impression. In her service life, she has been the Royal Navy's ceremonial ship to show the British national power, and has attracted people's attention.

"Keep your course! Call the power room, speed up now The chief officer followed and yelled, "all personnel return to their posts! Level 2 combat readiness

"The reconnaissance plane sent a telegram and found that the German transport fleet, two class D (German Hercules class transport ships) were on the scheduled route." The operational staff handed the message to the admiral.

"Order, the two destroyers in front of us will approach at once and board for inspection! If there is resistance, sink on the spot. Pay attention to the North Italian coastline behind our fleet. If you encounter Italian aircraft, you will be on air defense alert immediately! All antiaircraft guns are armed

"All antiaircraft guns are ready! Alert at 45 degrees The chief officer orders loudly to the microphone, and then the whole warship starts to make noise“ Boom After a while, there was an explosion in the distance, and the command room was in chaos. The captain and the Admiral put up their binoculars and began to look out into the distance, while the operational staff measured the chart for a while. Soon, the explosion came again. It seemed that the British warship had opened fire“ Hello? Communication room? Make sure! Which ship fired? Come on "I want the exact information," a combat staff officer asked aloud, holding a walkie talkie! Report to me immediately... Yeah, yeah! I see! " Put down the receiver, the combat staff immediately reported to the Admiral: "report! The brave sent a signal, the German transport ship sped up to escape, and the Italian Navy ships met in the distance. They opened fire and hit one of them, and the other one had entered the protection area of the Italian Navy. They did not continue to pursue. " I knew the Italians would protect the Germans for a long time, but what I didn't expect was that they came so fast. It seems that the Italian fleet set out ahead of time and came here to wait. So the Germans have already discovered the southward movement of the British fleet. Their intelligence collection skills are better than those in World War I. The Admiral put down his telescope and thought“ Boom An explosion resounding through the sky is hundreds of times louder than the gunfire just now. Without a telescope, you can see a billowing smoke from the sky. It seems that the German oil transport ship was hit by a shell. Judging from the severity of the explosion, this time the Royal Navy even saved the trouble of sending lifeboats to implement international law In front of acardo, Colonel Smith said with pride: "because Germany forcibly expelled the Allied arms control commission, the international community doubted Germany's sincerity of introspection after its defeat. Therefore, the French government initiated the joint implementation of economic sanctions against Germany by Britain, the United States, Belgium and Japan." Originally, war might break out at any time. As a military officer of the British Embassy in Germany, Colonel Smith originally intended to leave for home. But now that the government has decided not to go to war immediately, it seems that the withdrawal will not be so urgent - so he came to meet the German head of state on behalf of the British government. It has to be said that this move has really touched the most painful place in Germany. Akado has spared no effort to build the largest mechanized army in the world at this stage, which has laid a solid material foundation for the German Blitzkrieg ahead of time. Hundreds of cars and tanks have brought unparalleled assault ability and propulsion speed to the German army, Although the number of high-performance fighter planes is insufficient, the German air force is extremely powerful. It has shown its powerful power to dominate the sky. But behind the strength is these modern equipment. Each of them is a super oil Tiger: a more powerful engine; a more powerful engine; a more powerful fighter plane; Tanks and combat vehicles with larger tonnage; It relies heavily on a large number of communication equipment of field generators. At the same time, the fuel consumption of the German army is two times as much as that of the French army. And now akado realized that in modern war, you can't win a war with guns and guns - you have to have oil“ Captain Smith Akado looked at the British official in front of him with a smile, and said: "I don't understand why things have come to this stage, or why we want to expand our armaments to defend Europe against the attack of * makes so many people think of sanctions against us."“ The wise don't talk in secret, Mr. Fuehrer. " "We need Germany to stand with us to deal with the threat of * instead of using this slogan to annex our neighbors and make Europe a mess," Smith said with a smug smile“ We are gathering our strength to make our contribution to the East for the eternal peace of Europe. As a result, you stabbed us in the back! " With a slight helplessness on his face, akado said: "for the sake of Germany's 20% oil share in the Middle East, what the British do this time seems to be a bit out of the ordinary."“ If the head of state really wants to move eastward, he can buy oil from everyone. At least the share of the United States will not be transported back to the North American continent. They are looking for a buyer to buy their goods nearby. " Smith replied with a smile“ Good idea! I'll take it! " Akado nodded and said, "now can we talk about the British warship's firing on our civilian transport ships in the Mediterranean and sinking our ships?"“ Yes Smith also nodded: "but before we talk, I hope the Fuehrer can remember one thing. The British Empire only fired at pirates in the Mediterranean." Note: in history, the destroyer braver was guarding Japan in the Far East at this time. Military fans should not be serious.